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EP. REVIEW: Dororo


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青白



Joined: 30 May 2012
Posts: 184
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:26 am Reply with quote
The segment in episode 3 where they showed the infant Hyakkimaru desperately breathing absolutely destroyed my heart.
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alconnow_





PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:34 am Reply with quote
One of the best shows this season. The third episode had a brutal opening scene.
spoiler[I cringed when that ear got cut off]
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jenthehen



Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 835
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:56 am Reply with quote
青白 wrote:
The segment in episode 3 where they showed the infant Hyakkimaru desperately breathing absolutely destroyed my heart.


He was looking for boob Crying or Very sad that's why Jukai put his finger in his mouth to see if he would suckle.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 11:30 am Reply with quote
Neko-sensei wrote:
Your solution suggests that the streaming reviews are less reviews and more non-expert reactions, in the vein of anime bloggers or YouTube "my thoughts on"-ers (in which case we would not expect the writer to be aware of future plot developments).[/i]


You need to be aware that these are weekly reviews of the current episode, not of future episodes, earlier adaptions, source material etc., so even if the reviewer knew about this certain plot point, why should she spoil it for new viewers because at this point we are obviously still supposed to believe that spoiler[Dororo is a boy]?

And no, i don't get your reaction vs. review problem... Wink

As for this adaption, i'm absolutely loving it so far, it's been very impressive on pretty much every level!
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Merida wrote:
And no, i don't get your reaction vs. review problem... Wink


I get the confusion by the poster, because a "traditional" review would be one done after seeing the entire show & giving an overall view on the anime as a whole, being able to use hindsight to fully assess certain elements of the storytelling. Those are still done at ANN, and Dororo could very well be given one after the show ends, but the weekly streaming reviews should be treated as their own thing. These weekly reviews are kind of like a middle ground between reaction & review, as I'm sure the writers are encouraged to go into more detail than your standard "reaction", but at the same time one shouldn't go into these weekly reviews expecting the writer to already know all about the anime being covered.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:10 pm Reply with quote
^Well yeah, that's basically what i wrote in my previous comment, but Neko-sensei seemed to imply that - by their definition ( like i said, i don't really get the distinction) - "reviews" are per se of higher quality than "reactions" which is something i wouldn't agree with...
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slusheep



Joined: 01 Oct 2016
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:33 pm Reply with quote
Feels kinda odd to be in this spot but over the course of the first three episodes I developed some skepticism about the show. The premiere is great and I have no complaints there, but the second episode just drags. The relatively dour palette and tone of the show mean when being treated to plot beats as stale as that episode's barely-concealed monster fake-out, there's little to really carry my interest (aside from the single bit of nice fight animation).The third episode is definitely an improvement, though it is a bit disappointing that the demon who returns Hyakkimaru's leg is so simple and easily dispatched compared to the others we've seen. In general I'd really like to see more demons with personality, at least until we get a Hyakkimaru who can be a more active participant in group dynamics.

One thing about the review stuck out to me, and it was the comment about Hyakkimaru's missing senses creating an opportunity for visual storytelling, which I largely agree with. Things like his (and Biwa's) spirit sight are revealed to us subtly, through methods like first-person camera...until a narrator or character stops by to say the same thing out loud. I feel like that sort of thing does undercut the visual storytelling a little. I could also say there seems to be a general issue with repetition, when it comes to the spirit sight (shown, narrated at audience, explained by Biwa to Dororo all in ep2) or Hyakkimaru's curse (shown in ep1, explained by Jukai to Hyakkimaru, explained by Biwa to Dororo). These things obviously recur for the benefit of characters in-universe, but it still rubs me a bit to be sitting through them that many times, as a viewer.

All that said, it's still a very well-produced show and I'm curious to see where it goes as it carves its own path using a classic story as a base. I could pretty much qualify my complaints as more on a nitpick level, or things that I just worry may become issues later.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:01 am Reply with quote
slusheep wrote:
the second episode just drags. The relatively dour palette and tone of the show mean when being treated to plot beats as stale as that episode's barely-concealed monster fake-out, there's little to really carry my interest (aside from the single bit of nice fight animation).


To be fair, this anime's version of the Bandai was heavily altered & stripped down to the bare essentials, as it was originally much longer (it was two episodes in the 69 anime, & a notably long section in the PS2 video game), and the story it told was actually very good & quite melancholy in the end. I understand why they truncated it so much here, and what was done was okay for the length, but I do hope the anime refrains from cutting down longer stories like Bandai.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 4784
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:49 pm Reply with quote
I don't have any experience with previous versions of Dororo but just knowing Mappa is behind the anime and it's based on a Tezuka manga was enough to get me to check it out and it's definitely one of my favorites of the winter season. I like it's a good old fashioned revenge story and that fight scene in the first episode was so good and exciting. I enjoy how unique the characters are in this show, especially the relationship dynamic between Dororo and Hyakkimaru. This show easily has some of the best animation of the winter season and I think this new reboot has done a good job of streamlining and updating the Tezuka character designs so that they don't clash with the serious tone of the show. The theme songs for Dororo are also really good and I'm already addicted to them.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:07 pm Reply with quote
I find it interesting how the sword's name is very close to "Nihil" in pronunciation.

Anyway, it's a very interesting idea of Hyakkimaru experiencing the world bit by bit with the recovery of his body parts. First he got his skin back so he could finally have a face, then he regains his sense of touch so he experiences pain, and now he has his hearing so it's the first time he experiences sound. I noticed with his touch and hearing there's also this association of pain, Hyakkimaru stepping into a fire for the former and hearing someone crying for the latter.
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zenbud



Joined: 02 Jan 2019
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:22 pm Reply with quote
I like how this girl just shits on Tezuka's work in every week.
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Gwydion



Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 155
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 1:58 am Reply with quote
I have no knowledge of the manga (or older anime) that this is based on, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's the series I look forward to the most every week, which is saying something with the likes of Mob Psycho and Promised Neverland going at the same time.

I'm really curious to see how they'll handle Hyakkimaru's returning senses from this point on. He can hear now, but will he be able to understand? Will he have to be taught the language? I was curious how this would play out with his speech - which I assume will return at some point - but if he goes through the trouble of learning it (or some of it, anyway) before he can speak, that would make him available to hold some kind of conversations right away. Or perhaps he'll just "know" - wouldn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility considering the magically grown back skin/ears/etc (or this show's manga roots). Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to how this effects both him and Dororo, as I do really like their dynamic.
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:46 am Reply with quote
Gwydion wrote:
I have no knowledge of the manga (or older anime) that this is based on, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's the series I look forward to the most every week, which is saying something with the likes of Mob Psycho and Promised Neverland going at the same time.

I'm really curious to see how they'll handle Hyakkimaru's returning senses from this point on. He can hear now, but will he be able to understand? Will he have to be taught the language? I was curious how this would play out with his speech - which I assume will return at some point - but if he goes through the trouble of learning it (or some of it, anyway) before he can speak, that would make him available to hold some kind of conversations right away. Or perhaps he'll just "know" - wouldn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility considering the magically grown back skin/ears/etc (or this show's manga roots). Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to how this effects both him and Dororo, as I do really like their dynamic.


In the manga,and the 1969 anime, Hyakkimaru is portrayed as a really buff young samurai,who already has re-gained his hearing & speech-Dororo is drawn to be more ambiguous gender wise.

(Then there are the 2004 PS2 game and the 2007 movie both of which another way with how Hyakkimaru and Dororo are portrayed.)

2019's Dororo is more based on the manga,rather than a normal by the numbers adaptation. With 24 episodes and half of the demons of the '69 anime,this season's Dororo has the time to develop Hyakkimaru's story.


On a side note... I prefer the original anime's opening/ending song,the way Dororo's actress sings it really hooked me lol.
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Doodleboy



Joined: 23 Dec 2013
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 2:18 pm Reply with quote
AiddonValentine wrote:
I noticed with his touch and hearing there's also this association of pain, Hyakkimaru stepping into a fire for the former and hearing someone crying for the latter.


This bit is the most interesting part of this adaptation to me and I'm guessing it'll be something that'll be explored more as the series goes on.

If I had to guess what the adaptation process was like for this series. The writers probably read the manga and went "Huh... so the more of his body-parts he gets back, the weaker Hyakkimaru gets, that's interesting.". spoiler[Especially in the manga where not having ears, a voice-box, or eyes doesn't prevent him from seeing, talking or hearing.] Dororo is the story of an invulnerable warrior whose goal is to make themselves more vulnerable. The anime seeks to explain why regaining the capacity to be hurt is valuable to Hyakkimaru.

We see ancient Japan as an incredibly cruel place, even without demons hunting people. Throughout the series we see people learn to harden themselves to survive. The village chief suppresses his guilt over killing and stealing from a traveler, Tannosuke loses himself to an evil sword in order to not feel anything for all the innocents he murdered, Samurai devote themselves to martial-prowess so much that they don't hesitate to cut children's arms off in order to test their swords. It's clear that this suppression of emotion, this desire to not be hurt makes people do evil things.

And the most extreme example of this is the Samurai nobility. They're consistently shown to be the biggest monsters of the series. Hyakkimaru's father sacrificed his own son to demons in order to gain wealth and power. Of all the people who tried to make themselves invulnerable, people like Hyakkimaru's father are the most successful at it. They're the top of the food chain, able to kill anybody they want, having giant armies and tons of gold to prevent them from ever suffering like normal people. And that invulnerability turns them into psychopaths.

To make it super-obvious there's a scene in episode three with Jukai wonders if Hyakkimaru's inability to feel pain will turn him into a heartless killer, and immediately after with switch to a scene with Hyakkimaru's brother who grew up with wealth and talent in fighting.

So yeah, the series is clearly going somewhere with this. The ability to feel pain is valuable because it allows your to emphasize with other people's suffering. That empathy is what makes you human. The juxtaposition of this with class-struggles is already really compelling. spoiler[There's also a gender component too and that worries me a little-bit, because the anime does have the potential to fall flat on it's face with that. ]
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
In the 1967 manga, the cursed sword Nihiru speaks directly to Dororo, like a person: “I want blood.” Dororo's eyes widen. “Who said that?” he asks, looking straight ahead. “Was it you, reader?” This breaking of the fourth wall is just one of the goofy elements in the original telling.

I know nothing of the source material, but this description doesn't sound "goofy" to me. It sounds like a pointed reproof of the reader who would answer yes. Like, "You want blood, then I'll give you blood."
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